Gladys Edith McKay (20 February 1891 – 30 January 1963) was an Australian writer.Author: Edith McKay
AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource. Accessed 20 August 2018. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, McKay volunteered as a nurse and was sent overseas to Gallipoli and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

with the

Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services (SWH) was founded in 1914. It was led by Dr. Elsie Inglis and provided nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, cooks and orderlies. By the end of World War I, 14 medical units had been outfitted and ...

. McKay is best known for her 1947

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

"''The House of Winston Blaker"''. ''"The House of Winston Blaker"'' received mostly positive reviews nationally and was later adapted by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

as a

radio serial Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

. McKay was also known for her

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

, written under the name of Edith Dithmack. More than 120 of McKay's short stories were broadcast on ABC Radio in the 1940s. In 1949, McKay won the ABC's short story competition in 1949 for ''Faith''.(12 July 1949
Boonah woman wins competition
, ''

Queensland Times ''The Queensland Times'' is an online newspaper serving Ipswich and surrounds in Queensland, Australia. The newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia. The circulation of ''The Queensland Times'' is 10,804 Monday to Friday and 14,153 on Saturda ...

''. Retrieved from National Library of Australia 20 August 2018. ABC Radio adapted another of McKay's works into a serial format in 1952. ''Unborn Tomorrow'', inspired by the history of Kanaka labour on the Queensland sugarcane fields, was aired from Monday to Friday at 8:45am. McKay was born in

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of ...

, and worked as a solicitor's clerk in Bundaberg before settling in the Boonah district.(13 June 1946
Our Contributors: E. Dithmack
'' Western Mail''. Retrieved from National Library of Australia 20 August 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Edith 1891 births 1963 deaths People from Rockhampton 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian writers

See also

References